The series, which is heavily inspired by the fantasyrole-playing gameDungeons & Dragons as well as video games, is produced via hand-drawn animation. Episodes are created through the process of storyboarding, and a single episode takes roughly eight to nine months to complete, although multiple episodes are worked on at the same time. The Adventure Time cast records their lines together in group recordings as opposed to different recording sessions with each voice actor, and the series also regularly employs guest actors and actresses for minor and recurring characters. Each Adventure Time episode is about eleven minutes in length; pairs of episodes are often telecast in order to fill a half-hour program time slot. The series has completed six seasons, and has also been renewed for a seventh season (which will air sometime in the Fall of 2015 and contain a special mini-series), as well as an eighth season. A feature-length film is also in the works.

Premise

The series follows the adventures of Finn, a human boy, and his best friend and adoptive brother Jake, a dog with magical powers to change shape and grow and shrink at will. Ward describes Finn as a "fiery little kid with strong morals", while Jake is based on Bill Murray's character Tripper Harrison from Meatballs.[3] Finn and Jake live in the post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo. Along the way, they interact with the other main characters of the show: Princess Bubblegum (voiced by Hynden Walch), the sovereign of the Candy Kingdom; the Ice King (voiced by Tom Kenny), a menacing but largely misunderstood ice wizard; and Marceline the Vampire Queen (voiced by Olivia Olson), a thousand-year-old half-demon rock music enthusiast.[4]

Development

Concept and creation

According to series creator Pendleton Ward, the show's style was influenced both by his time attending California Institute of the Arts and by his experience working as a writer and storyboard artist on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack. In an interview with Animation World Network, Ward explained that he also strives to combine the series' subversive humor with "beautiful" moments, using Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro as inspiration.[3] Ward has also highlighted Home Movies and Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist as influences, largely because both shows are "relaxing" and feature "conversational dialogue that feels natural [and] not over the top and cartoony and shrill".[5] The show began as a single stand-alone animated short which ran for seven minutes. Ward created the short almost entirely by himself, and wrapped up production for the short in the spring of 2006.[6] It originally aired on Nicktoons Network as a stand-alone short January 11, 2007,[6][7] and was later re-aired as part of Frederator Studios' Random! Cartoons on December 7, 2008.[8][9] After its initial release, the short video became a viral hit on the internet.[3][10] Frederator Studios then pitched an Adventure Time series to Nicktoons Network, but the network passed on it twice.[11] Eventually, the studio's rights to pick up the show expired, and Frederator, the short's production animation studio, decided to shop it to other channels.[12]Cartoon Network was approached, and they said they would be willing to produce the series if Ward could prove that the series could be expanded into a series while maintaining elements from the original short.[13] Rob Sorcher, the chief content officer at Cartoon Network, was influential in getting the network to take a chance on the show; he recognized the series as "something that felt really indie [...] comic book-y [and] really new."[12]

Ward quickly retooled the concept of the pilot; he wanted a potential series to be "fully realized", rather than be characterized by the "pre-school vibe" that permeated the original pilot.[3] Ward, with help from his college friends Patrick McHale and Adam Muto, turned in a rough storyboard that featured Finn and an "oblivious" Princess Bubblegum going on a spaghetti-supper date.[11] However, the network was not happy with this story, and asked for another. Ward then created an early storyboard for the episode "The Enchiridion!" which was his attempt to emulate the style of the original Nicktoons short. Cartoon Network approved the first season in September 2008, and "The Enchiridion!" became the first episode to enter into production.[11][13][14][15] Ward and his production team began storyboarding episodes and writing plot outlines. However, Cartoon Network was still concerned as to what direction the show would head. During the pitch of the episode "Brothers in Insomnia" (which would eventually be scrapped), McHale recounted that the entire room was filled with executives from Cartoon Network. And while the pitch went well, the production staff was soon inundated with more questions about the stylistic nature of the series. Hoping to ameliorate these issues, Cartoon Network management decided to hire three animation veterans who had worked on SpongeBob SquarePants: Derek Drymon (who served as executive producer for the first season), Merriwether Williams (who served as head story editors for season one and two), and Nick Jennings (who was brought on as the series' art director).[16]Thurop Van Orman, the creator of The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, was also hired for the first two seasons to help guide Ward and his staff.[17]

One of the major changes from the pilot to the series was the new-found emphasis placed on the background art. Dan "Ghostshrimp" James, a freelance illustrator who had also storyboarded on Flapjack, was tasked with designing the world of the show; reportedly, he was told by Ward to make the series look like it took "place in a 'Ghostshrimp World'".[3][18] He designed major locations, such as Finn and Jake's home, the Candy Kingdom, and the Ice Kingdom.[18] During the production for season one, Ward was also instrumental in assembling a storyboard team for his series. He was drawn towards "younger, inexperienced people", and he utilized the Internet to aid in his search. It was during this time that Phil Rynda was hired; he would serve as the series' lead character designer for two seasons.[19] In its first season, the series was originally billed as Adventure Time with Finn and Jake.[2] This was because the producers were at first unsure if they could secure the rights to the simpler title Adventure Time. Despite these initial reservations, the end of the original was later dropped.[20]

Production

While many cartoons are based on script pitches to network executives, Cartoon Network allowed Adventure Time to "build their own teams organically" and communication through the use of storyboards and animatics.[4] Cartoon Network chief content officer Rob Sorcher explained that this novel approach was sanctioned because the company was dealing with "primarily visual people" and that by using storyboards the writers and artists could learn and grow "by actually doing the work."[4] Many of the series' artists have backgrounds in indie comics. Pendleton Ward refers to them as "really smart, smartypants people" who were responsible for inserting weirder and more spiritual ideas into the series during its third season.[21]

In an interview with The A.V. Club, Ward explained that the writing process for the show usually begins with the writers telling each other what they had done the past week in an attempt to find something humorous to build off of. He also said that, "a lot of the time, if we're really stuck, we'll start saying everything that comes to our mind, which is usually the worst stuff, and then someone else will think that's terrible but it'll give him a better idea and the ball just starts rolling like that."[22] Ward also revealed that a major inspiration for the series is the fantasyrole-playing gameDungeons and Dragons. Before the series aired, many of the writers were avid fans of the game. However, because of the busy schedule that comes with writing and coordinating a television series, they no longer had time to actively play the game. Ward explained that, because the writers were too busy, they would attempt to write stories that they would "want to be playing D&D with."[22] Sometimes, the series' writers and storyboard artists convene and play various writing games.[23] One example is called exquisite corpse, in which one writer starts a story on a sheet of paper, and the paper is folded and another writer tries to finish it.[23][24] Ward, however, noted that "the ideas are usually terrible".[24] Storyboard artist Cole Sanchez revealed that episodes' scripts are either created by expanding the good ideas that these writing games produce, or are based upon an idea that a storyboard artist proposes, in the hopes that the idea can be developed into an episode.[23]

A storyboard panel from the episode "What Was Missing" showing action, dialogue, and sound effects. Adventure Time is a storyboard-driven series, meaning that the storyboard artists are also the writers, allowing them to draft out both the dialogue, as well as the action in a scene.

After the writers pitch the stories, the ideas are compiled onto a "two-to-three" page outline that contain "the important beats".[25] The episodes are then passed to storyboard artists, who are given a week to "thumbnail a storyboard" and fill in the details, complete with action, dialogue, and jokes.[25][26] Ward and his creative directors then review the storyboard and make notes. The storyboard artists are then given another week to implement the notes and clean up the episode.[26] Storyboard writing and revisioning can take up to a month. Following the revisions, the voices for the episode are recorded and an animatic is compiled to get the timing of the episode down to the necessary 11 minutes. Prop, character, and background designers then create and clean up the designs. Following this, the animation process begins.[27][28] The episodes' design and coloring are done in Burbank, California. Animation is handled overseas in South Korea, either by Rough Draft Korea or by Saerom Animation.[28][29][30]

Actually animating an episode takes about three to five months.[27][28] During this time, retakes, music scoring, and sound design are completed.[27] Once the animation is finished, it is sent back to the United States where it is reviewed; during this time, the staff looks for mistakes in the animation, or "things that didn't animate the way [the staff] intended".[28] These issues are then fixed in Korea and the episode is finished.[28] It takes about eight to nine months for a single episode to be created, although multiple episodes are worked on at the same time.[22][27][28] According to former lead character designer Phil Rynda, most preproduction is done in Photoshop. The animation is then hand-drawn on paper, then digitally composited.[31][32] However, there have been elements in episodes that were not hand-drawn, such as the second season entry "Guardians of Sunshine", which was partially rendered in 3-D to emulate a video game;[31] the fifth season episode "A Glitch is a Glitch", which was written and directed by Irish filmmaker and writer David OReilly, and features his distinct 3-D animation;[33] and the sixth season episode "Water Park Prank", which features animation courtesy of David Ferguson.[34] Furthermore, a stop-motion episode titled "Bad Jubies", helmed by Kirsten Lepore, is slated to air near the start of the show's seventh season.[35][36]

Ward describes the show as a "dark comedy", explaining that he enjoys "conflicting emotions" and the feeling of "being happy and scared at the same time."[37] Executive producer Fred Seibert compared the show's animation style to that of Felix the Cat and various Max Fleischer cartoons, but said that its world was also equally inspired by Dungeons and Dragons and video games.[38] Ward intends the show's world to have a certain physical logic instead of "cartoony slapstick". As a result, even though magic exists in the story, the show's writers try to create an internal consistency in how the characters interact with the world.[3][38] In the United States, the series is rated TV-PG,[39] and Ward has said that he does not want to push the show's PG rating. He explained, "I've never really even thought about the rating. [...] we don't like stuff that's overly gross. We like cute stuff and nice things".[26]

The episode "All Your Fault" was the last regular episode of the series to feature a "directed by" credit.[40] The subsequent episode, "Little Dude", only credited Adam Muto as supervising director and Nick Jennings as art director.[41] Muto later explained that as of season five, no one was being credited solely as director.[42] Both Muto and Nate Cash had, in previous episodes, been credited as creative directors, but according to Muto, the series decided to phase the title out in favor of the title "supervising director".[42] "Bad Little Boy", the subsequent episode, however, still had a "directed by" credit.[43] This is due to the fact that the episode was produced before "Little Dude", but aired out of order.[44] Similarly, "A Glitch is a Glitch" also featured a "directed by" credit, but this is due to the fact that the episode's director, OReilly, was a guest animator and director for the series.[33] For the first half of the season, both Muto and Nate Cash took turns holding the supervising director credit on different episodes.[41][45] Starting with "Shh!", however, Elizabeth Ito, a former storyboard artist for the show in season one, returned to the series and was also credited as supervising director in place of Muto. Muto in turn was promoted to supervising producer,[46] and later co-executive producer.[47] In an interview with Rolling Stone, Ward revealed that he stepped down as series showrunner sometime during the fifth season. The duties of showrunner then fell to Muto.[48]

Cast

The series employs the voice acting talents of John DiMaggio (left) and Jeremy Shada (right), who voice Jake and Finn, respectively.

The voice actors include voice acting veterans John DiMaggio (who portrays Jake the Dog), Tom Kenny (who plays the Ice King), and Hynden Walch (who voices Princess Bubblegum). In addition, Jeremy Shada portrays the voice of Finn the Human, and Olivia Olson portrays Marceline the Vampire Queen. Ward himself provides the voice for several minor characters, as well as Lumpy Space Princess. Former storyboard artist Niki Yang voices the sentient video game console BMO, as well as Jake's girlfriend, Lady Rainicorn.[49] Polly Lou Livingston, a friend of Pendleton Ward's mother, Bettie Ward, plays the voice of the small elephant Tree Trunks.[50][51] The Adventure Time cast records their lines together in group recordings as opposed to different recording sessions with each voice actor. This is to record more natural sounding dialogue among the characters. Hynden Walch has described these group recordings as akin to "doing a play reading—a really, really out there play."[52] The series also regularly employs guest actors and actresses for minor and recurring characters.[53] The crew members cast people who they are interested in working with. In a panel, both Adam Muto and Kent Osborne noted that the Adventure Time crew has been attempting to cast the entire cast of both Star Trek: The Next Generation and The Office as various characters.[54]

Setting and mythology

The show is set in a fictional continent called the "Land of Ooo",[55] in a post-apocalyptic future about a thousand years after the "Great Mushroom War", essentially a nuclear holocaust.[56] According to Ward, the show takes place "after the bombs have fallen and magic has come back into the world".[57] Before the series was fully developed, Ward's original intention was for the Land of Ooo to simply be "magical". After "Business Time" aired, in which an iceberg containing reanimated business men floats to the surface of a lake, the show suddenly became post-apocalyptic, and Ward notes that the production crew "just ran with it."[37] Ward later described the setting as "candyland on the surface and dark underneath".[4] Ward stated that he has never intended for the Mushroom War and the post-apocalyptic elements to be "hit over the head in the show".[58] In fact, he limited it to "cars buried underground in the background [and elements that do not] raise any eyebrows."[58] Ward has acknowledged that the post-apocalyptic elements of the series were influenced by the 1979 film Mad Max.[37] Kenny called the way the elements are worked into the plot "very fill-in-the-blanks", and DiMaggio noted that "it's been obvious the Land of Ooo has some issues".[58]

The series also has a mythology, or an overarching plot and backstory, that is expanded upon in various episodes.[59][60] This backstory largely involves the Mushroom War, the origin of the series' principal antagonist the Lich, and the backstory of several of the series principal and recurring characters, such as the Ice King, Marceline, and Princess Bubblegum.[59][60][61] Ward has admitted that the details behind the Mushroom War and the series' dark mythology form "a story worthy telling", but that he feels that the show will "save it and continue to dance around how heavy the back-history of Ooo is."[62]

Title sequence and music

Originally, when Ward was developing the title sequences, the rough draft version consisted of quick shots and vignettes that were "just sort of crazy, nonsensical", and that alluded to the show's theme of quirky adventures.[26] These shots included "the characters [...] just punching random ghosts and monsters, jumping through anything and everything [and] there were a bunch of atomic bombs at the end of it".[26] Ward later called this version "really silly".[26] After he sent the draft to the network, they did not enjoy it; they wanted something more graphical, like the intro to The Brady Bunch. Ward, inspired by the intros to The Simpsons and Pee-wee's Playhouse developed a new intro that would feature a panning sweep of the Land of Ooo, all the while, a synthesizer note would slowly rise until the main theme enters. Ward's draft for this idea was handed off to layout animators and the sequence took shape. Notably, Pat McHale worked on the Ice King's shot and gave him a "high school book" smile, and the crew also struggled on getting Marceline's shadows correct.[26] After the panning sweep, the intro cuts to the theme song, with shots of Finn and Jake adventuring. For this part of the sequence, Ward was inspired by the "simple" aspects of the intro for the 2007 comedy film Superbad; when the theme mentions "Jake the Dog" and "Finn the Human", the characters names are displayed next to their heads, with only a solid color in the background.[26] The sequence was finalized right before the series aired.[26]

The theme song for the show, entitled "Adventure Time", is performed by Ward accompanied by a ukulele. The theme first appeared in the pilot episode, although, in the pilot version, Ward was accompanied by an acoustic guitar. In the series' version, Ward's singing is noticeably in a higher register; this is because Ward felt it was necessary to match his singing with the higher tone of the ukelele.[26] The finalized version of the theme song that appears in opening was originally supposed to be a temp version. Ward explained, "I recorded the lyrics for the opening title in the animatics room where we have this little crummy microphone just so that we could add it to the titles and submit it to the network. Later, we tried re-recording it and I didn't like it... I only liked the temp one!"[26] According to Ward, much of the music has "hiss and grit" because one of the show's original composer Casey James Basichis, reportedly "lives in a pirate ship he's built inside of an apartment [and] you can hear floorboards squeak and lots of other weird sounds."[26] As the show progressed, Basichis's friend Tim Kiefer joined the show as an additional composer.[63] The two currently work together on the music.[64]

Broadcast

Episodes

Each Adventure Time episode is about eleven minutes in length; pairs of episodes are often telecast in order to fill a half-hour program time slot.[77] The series has completed four seasons of twenty-six episodes each, a fifth season of 52 episodes, and is currently on its sixth season. The series previewed on March 11, 2010, and the first season officially premiered on April 5, 2010.[78] The season concluded on September 27 of the same year.[79] The second season premiered several weeks later, on October 11, and concluded on May 2, 2011.[80][81] The third season premiered later that year, on July 11, 2011, and finished its run on February 13, 2012.[82][83] The series' fourth season ran from April 2, 2012 through October 22, 2012.[84][85] The fifth season ran from November 12, 2012 to March 17, 2014.[86] The sixth season began on April 21, 2014,[87] and ended on June 5, 2015.[88] On July 25, 2014, the series was renewed for a seventh season, which is scheduled to air sometime in the Fall of 2015.[89][90] On February 18, 2015, Cartoon Network announced that a special miniseries would air as part of the series' seventh season.[91] The series was renewed for an eighth season on July 7, 2015.[92]

Reception

Ratings

Since its debut, Adventure Time has been a ratings success for Cartoon Network. The show first premiered on April 5, 2010 and was watched by 2.5 million viewers.[93] The episode was a ratings smash; according to a press release sent out by Cartoon Network, the episode's timeslot saw triple digit percentage increases from the time period of the previous year. For instance, the entry was viewed by 1.661 million kids aged 2–11, which marked a 110 percent increase from the previous year. Furthermore, it was watched by 837,000 kids aged 9–14, which saw a 239 percent increase.[94] The second season premiere, "It Came From the Nightosphere", being watched by 2.001 million viewers, marked a decline from the first season premiere, but it marked an increase from the first season finale, which was watched by only 1.77 million viewers.[79][80][93] "It Came from the Nightospere" also marked gains when compared to the same timeslot a year prior; for instance, 732,000 kids aged 6–11 watched the episode, an increase by 35 percent when compared to the previous year.[95] As the show has gone on, its ratings have continued to grow; the third season debut was watched by a total of 2.686 million viewers, the fourth season premiere was watched by 2.655 million, the fifth season opener was watched by 3.435 million, and the sixth season debut was watched by 3.321 million.[84][96][97][98] In March 2013, it was reported that the show averages roughly 2 to 3 million viewers an episode.[8] According to a 2012 report by Nielsen, the show consistently ranks first in its timeslot among boys aged 2 to 14.[4]

Critical reviews

"Adventure Time makes me wish I were a kid again, just so I could grow up to be as awesome as the kids who are currently watching Adventure Time will be."

The show has received positive reviews from critics and has developed a strong following among children, teenagers, and adults alike; fans are drawn towards Adventure Time due "to the show's silly humor, imaginative stories, and richly populated world."[22] Television critic Robert Lloyd, in an article for the LA Times, said that the series was a good companion piece "to the network's [then] currently airing Chowder and The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack."[2] He complimented the setting and compared the show to the two previously mentioned series, noting that each take "place in a fantastical land peopled with strange, somewhat disturbing characters and has at its center a young male person or person-like thing making his way in that world with the help of unusual, not always reliable, mentors."[2] He went on to write that the show is "not unlike CN's earlier Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, about a boy and his imaginary friend, though darker and stranger and even less connected to the world as we know it."[2] Lloyd also compared it to "the sort of cartoons they made when cartoons themselves were young and delighted in bringing all things to rubbery life."[2]

Mike LeChevallier of Slate magazine awarded the third and fourth seasons of the show four stars out of five.[100][101] In a review of the third season, LeChevallier wrote that the series "scores relatively high marks for storytelling, artwork, music, voice acting, and realization with its neatly wrapped, 11-minute packages of multicolored awesomeness."[100] He further complimented the show because he felt that "it scarcely appears to be trying too hard to attract attention, yet it does just that".[100] He did note that "the short-form format leaves some emotional substance to be desired", although he argued that this was inevitable for a series with such short episodes.[100] In a review of season four LeChevallier positively complimented the show for "growing up" with its characters, and that "the show's dialogue is among the best of any current animated series."[101] He concluded that the series possesses "strikingly few faults".[101]The A.V. Club reviewer Zack Handlen summed Adventure Time up as "a terrific show, and it fits beautifully in that gray area between kid and adult entertainment in a way that manages to satisfy both a desire for sophisticated (i.e., weird) writing and plain old silliness."[102] He concluded that the show was "basically what would happen if you asked a bunch of 12-year-olds to make a cartoon, only it's the best possible version of that, like if all the 12-year-olds were super geniuses and some of them were Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and the Marx Brothers."[102]

Robert Mclaughlin of Den of Geek wrote that Adventure Time "is the first cartoon in a long time that is pure imagination".[103] He heavily complimented the show for "its non-reliance on continually referencing pop culture [...] and the general outlook is positive and fun."[103] Eric Kohn of IndieWire said that the show "represents the progress of [cartoon] medium" in the current decade.[104] Kohn also enjoyed the way the show not only revels in "random, frequently adorable and effusive" aspects, but also "toys with an incredibly sad subtext".[104]Entertainment Weekly named Adventure Time number 20 on their The 25 Greatest Animated Series Ever list.[99][105] Later, in 2013, Entertainment Weekly reviewer Darren Franich awarded the series an "A" and called it "a hybrid sci-fi/fantasy/horror/musical/fairy tale, with echoes of Calvin and Hobbes, Hayao Miyazaki, Final Fantasy, Richard Linklater, Where the Wild Things Are, and the music video you made with your high school garage band."[106] Franich praised the series' "consistently inventive" plotlines and its "vivid landscape", as well as its continued maturation.[106] Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker praised the show, likening it to "World of Warcraft as recapped by Carl Jung", and applauded its unique approach to emotion, humor, and philosophy.[107]

Fandom

Since its debut, Adventure Time has amassed a steadily growing group of fans. The show is often described as having a cult following among teenagers and adults,[48][108] although Eric Kohn of Indiewire noted that—while it started out with a cult following—the series has "started to look like one of the biggest television phenomenons of the decade."[109] The show is particularly popular at fan conventions, such as Comic-Con, hosted in San Diego.[109] Reporter Emma-Lee Moss noted, "This year's Comic-Con schedule reflected Adventure Time‍ '​s growing success, with several screenings, a dramatic reading with the show's voice talent and a special Adventure Time Cosplay ball."[110]

The show is also popular with cosplayers, or performance artists who wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character from the Adventure Time universe. Moss wrote: "Looking into the crowd, it was clear that his distinctive blue shirt and white hat were being mirrored by hundreds of Cosplayers, male and female."[110] In an interview, Olivia Olson reported that, "Literally, anywhere you look, anywhere in your range, you're going to see at least two people dressed up like Finn. It's crazy."[111]

After the success of the initial ongoing comic book line, several spin-off miniseries were launched. In April 2012, a six-issue miniseries written by Meredith Gran—who had created the series Octopus Pie—was announced; entitled Adventure Time: Marceline and the Scream Queens, it launched in July 2012 and features the characters of Marceline and Princess Bubblegum touring the Land of Ooo as a part of Marceline's rock band, the titular Scream Queens.[154] Another six-issue miniseries, Adventure Time with Fionna & Cake was launched in January 2013. This series, drawn by Adventure Time series character designer and storyboard revisionist Natasha Allegri, follows the gender-bent characters of Fionna the Human and Cake the Cat from the episode "Fionna and Cake".[155] Other spin-off comic series have been released, included Candy Capers, and Flip Side, each penned and illustrated by different writers and artists.[156][157] A single 160 page graphic novel titled Adventure Time: Playing with Fire, written by Danielle Corsetto and illustrated by Zack Sterling was released in April 2013. It focused on recurring character Flame Princess, and it followed her on "her very first adventure" with Finn and Jake.[158] A sequel volume, entitled Pixel Princesses, was released on November 6, 2013.[159] In December 2013, it was announced that Kate Leth would be writing a new graphic novel focusing on Marceline and Jake's adventure to the Nightosphere. It was released in March 2014.[160]

Other merchandise

Jazwares has produced an assortment of 2-, 5-, 10-, and 20-inch licensed action figures for the series, which were launched in the fall of 2011.[171] "Grow Your Own" characters that expand more than 500 percent when immersed in water were also released.[171] Role playing toys have also be produced, with a 24-inch "Finn Sword" being released first.[171] Jazwares is also producing a cuddle pillow of Jake and Lumpy Space Princess. Splat toys of Jake and Lumpy Space Princess have been released as of spring 2012.[172] Since the dramatic series increase in popularity, many graphic t-shirts have been officially licensed through popular clothing retailers like Hot Topic, We Love Fine, and Threadless.[173][174][175] Pendleton Ward even hosted t-shirt designing contests on the latter two sites.[175][176] Other shirts can be purchased directly from Cartoon Network's store.[177] A collectible card game called Card Wars, inspired by the season four episode of the same name, has also been released.[178]

Home media

On September 27, 2011, Cartoon Network released the My Two Favorite Peopleregion 1 DVD, which featured a random selection of 12 episodes from the series' first two seasons. The success of this DVD led to the release of several other types of region 1 compilation DVDs, including: It Came from the Nightosphere (2012), Jake vs. Me-Mow (2012), Fionna and Cake (2013), Jake the Dad (2013), The Suitor (2014), Princess Day (2014), Adventure Time and Friends (2014), Finn the Human (2014), and Frost & Fire (2015).[180]

In addition, the first through fifth seasons have been released on DVD and Blu-ray.[181][182][183][184][185] On March 30, 2013, the first season of Adventure Time was made available on the Netflix Instant Watch service for online streaming, and the second season was made available on March 30, 2014.[186][187] Both seasons were removed on March 30, 2015.[188] Season one through five were eventually made available for streaming on Hulu on May 1, 2015.[189]

^"Adventure Time". Behind the Voice Actors. Retrieved January 14, 2013. Note: To reveal who voiced what character, one must click on the various characters under "Guest Stars" to reveal their voice actor or actress.